"Common Sense" is all too often little more than a substitute for ignorance and prejudice. It rejects the carefully thought-out argument for instant thoughtless reactions. It is usually wrong.
UnCommon Sense tries to look at issues from a more complex and considered point of view. "Common Sense" is simplistic, UnCommon Sense is deals with the the world as far more complex than many would have us believe.

Wednesday, 11 January 2017

An Open Letter to the CEOs of Schools Out about LGBT History Month

Dear Mr Fenwick and Ms Sanders,

As a trans woman and someone who has in the past, supported Schools Out to try and make things better for LGBT
pupils and teachers in our schools I am writing to you as a matter of utmost
seriousness. I also speak as a trans academic who has published
research into trans children and young trans people. My concern is regarding journalist Julie Bindel’s talk in Manchester which is being
promoted by you as part of LGBT history month.

In this letter I intend to make the following points; firstly
that the justification you have made for your support of Julie Bindel’s
participation in an LGBT history month events is untenable, and secondly
that this brings into serious question the credibility of Schools Out as an
organisation.

In Achbishop Desmond Tutu’s famous quote he describes
neutrality as harming the oppressor, at least in your case we are not talking
about neutrality, representing a kind of passive support for the oppressor, you are
engaging in active support. In your justification for including this item in
your listings you cite primarily an article published by Bindel in 2004;

“She made
the comments that questioned the existence of trans women in 2004 and has said
she would have phrase things differently now.”

Foregrounding this rather than other publications of
Bindel is very highly problematic and also very revealing. She “apologised”
for that article under pressure from trans people, however this article, while
expressed in objectionable terms, is far from the worst example of her output. It is telling that you have chosen to foreground this in your explanation
rather than her, very recent, article in the Daily Mail about trans children
which you only mention only at the end of your statement. It is this that concerns
me greatly since it appears to reveal some very serious issues regarding
Schools Out as an organisation claiming to work for trans children and young
people in education.

Bindel’s article in the Daily Mail (Britain’s highest
circulation newspaper) a few weeks ago is harmful (and here I am choosing my words
very deliberately, and very carefully) to transgender children. In her article
Bindel suggests, while providing no supporting evidence, the following;

“If I were a teenager today, well-meaning liberal teachers
and social workers would probably tell me that I was trapped in the wrong body.
They might refer me to a psychiatrist who would prescribe fistfuls of hormones
and other drugs. And terrifyingly, I might easily be recommended for gender
re-assignment surgery… just because I didn’t like the pink straitjacket imposed
on girls.”

There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that this is the
case for any kind of transgender or gender nonconforming children. Indeed there
is a great deal of evidence to the contrary. All evidence suggests, that trans
children and young trans people find it very difficult to convince anyone that
they are trans: If you are a trans child, you are probably more likely to
be regarded as gay or lesbian than trans. In addition you are more likely to
feel significant pressure not to come out, or be recognised as your real gender
because of a number of different social and cultural pressures, pressures made
worse by Bindel’s article. Indeed even for those who do come out, leading
anything like a normal life can be a real struggle, with opposition
commonly manifesting itself amongst parents of other children at school, school
staff and even peers, in many areas of school life from PE to toilet
access.

Bindel’s narrative appears to have been
constructed to serve a purpose; to delegitimise trans
people in general and trans children in particular. It is designed to make it
harder for those trans children trying to come out, trying to communicate to
parents, siblings, teachers and friends and convince them of who they are. When
trans children are unable to do this, or face resistance from their families,
communities and schools, in effect they are being forced to undergo a kind of
amateur community Conversion Therapy. This is why I use the term “harm” very
particularly.

The consequences of this article reaching such a wide
audience are difficult to quantify of course. Yet it doesn't take much
imagination to see how it is very likely to make many parents, parents of other
children and school staff adopt a more dismissive and hostile attitude to any trans child brave enough to try and come out, with the consequent
psychological damage to those individuals.

In other words Bindel’s article in the Daily Mail will have
an effect on trans children which is opposite from the apparent stated aims of Schools
Out. And, in case you're not aware of it, this is not the only attack on trans
children in mainstream media; the BBC are broadcasting a program about a mental
health professional, widely regarded as engaging in Conversion Therapy on trans
children, in a documentary in which the parents of a trans child in Canada are alleging journalistic malpractice. There is a very real danger that a popular
media consensus harmful to trans children is developing. Julie
Bindel’s article is part of that consensus. Your endorsement of
Bindel’s event is an endorsement of those harmful effects.

Your organisation is adding legitimacy to Bindel by
including her event in your LGBT history month listings. In effect you are
saying that it is okay for someone who produces material like hers to take part
in LGBT (not LGB) history month. One of the justifications you use for this is
the old canard of “debate”.

“She has a
right to speak just as we have a right to challenge what she says. That is the
nature of debate and it allows us to make change happen in society.”

With the circulation
of the Daily Mail at 2.2 million, and a readership probably in excess of 3
million, perhaps you would like to explain how I am able to challenge her
fabrications to this audience. To the best of my knowledge the Daily Mail has
not permitted anyone to publish any response to this article, and indeed has
published further articles, which will cause harm trans children. Even getting a
right to reply article in New Statesman over trans issues has proved impossible
in my experience, never mind the Mail. The current popular media consensus about trans
children has largely taken Bindel’s side of the argument with few, if any,
opportunities for trans people to “challenge” or “debate” her dangerous
narrativesin any effective sense or even have our voices heard at all. The “nature of debate” as you describe it, on this issue, contrary to your
assertion, is pretty one-sided if it could indeed be described as a "debate" at all...

However
what is of more immediate concern is your organisation’s failure to forward the interests of those you claim to represent, namely trans children, over this
issue, because this is an issue that is directly relevant to your purview. Indeed
it makes me doubt very seriously that you are indeed an LGBT organization if you are prepared to support someone whose
actions are harming those you claim to be helping. If you are an LGBT organisation then act like an LGBT
organisation. Transphobia and cisgenderism are real and seriously harm children
in schools. Transphobia and cisgenderism are not the same as homophobia and
discrimination against trans children in schools is not the same as discrimination against LGB children, although it has similarities. Your failure to understand the issues with
Bindel and how they affect children you claim to represent or wish to help
suggests a profound and fundamental failure on the part of Schools Out.

So in my
opinion this demonstrates that Schools Out has very serious problems relating
to the way it goes about its business in relation to trans children and young
people in schools. As a result I will stop recommending your organization to
schools and teachers, which I have hitherto done regularly. I cannot see
how it is possible for you to maintain the position you have with regard to
Bindel and still effectively help trans children in schools. I do not want to be associated with Schools Out in its current form and I
will recommend other organisations instead as a result of your stance on this
issue. I no longer have any confidence in your ability to help trans children in
schools. In my opinion you have become part of the problem.

Regards,Natacha Kennedy.Goldsmiths College and University College London